The WakerSpace: Real Learning for All

In this presentation

This presentation focuses on how students learn within the hands-on experiential learning setting of a makerspace. Foundational learning psychology topics and innovative learning space design were grouped with activities utilizing design software and maker tools (3D-printing, laser cutting, vinyl cutting, and other crafts) with the aim of helping students better understand and gain confidence in approaching creative projects, reduce student anxiety around conducting creative projects, and apply experiential learning approaches to course content. In particular, students were tasked with reimagining, creating, and presenting their prototypes for future learning spaces.

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Presenter Information

Ali Sakkal

Associate Teaching Professor, Education

Ali Sakkal completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis where he divided his time between the Learning and Mind Sciences and School Organization and Education Policy programs. He received his M.S. in Adolescent Education through a joint Americorps and New York City Department of Education program and was a music educator at the middle and elementary school levels for five years in the New York City public schools. He is interested in how students integrate their knowledge across contexts, and in how innovative educational designs can facilitate this process. His research interests draw from the fields of experiential learning, informal learning contexts, sociocultural theory, image-based field research, and gaming for learning. Over the past few years, Sakkal’s research included investigations of student cognition and learning within makerspaces and through school sponsored international travel. He recently returned from research in Colombia, South America where he investigated Colombia’s drastically changing higher education system, connecting larger policy initiatives to the ground levels of university functions. Having received a B.M. in Saxophone Performance, Sakkal can also be found making music through various musical contexts and touring projects.